Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark

When we are little children, the world of night can be very frightening. Old houses seem to creak and groan, night lights are essential, and unknown horrors lie waiting under our beds. These fears are usually just our response to what we cannot see, pure darkness has no threat at all. However, what if there was something hiding in the shadows, an evil that wants the company of children for fiendish purpose. “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark”, a remake of the 1973 ABC TV film, explores our deepest childhood fear that something is going to get us.

We begin in 1910 when the owner of a creepy house lures his housemaid down into the cellar. There he overpowers her, then murders the poor woman by driving a chisel and hammer through her teeth. This alone is violent, but the teeth are a sacrifice to unseen voices in a dark wood stove. Then they tell him his lost son is down there with them, and they pull him into the darkness forever. Cut to modern time, Bailee Madison (Bridge to Terabithia) is Sally, a sad little girl going through her parents’ divorce. Guy Pearce (The Hurt Locker, The King’s Speech) is her father Alex and Katie Holmes (Thank You for Smoking, Batman Begins) is her stepmother Kim. The family relationship is strained to say the least, but they are buying a new house in Rhode Island with the hopes to sell it to wealthy collectors. Sally hates the house immediately and sees the sympathetic Kim as a threat. However, the basement holds a strange curiosity for the girl: voices that talk to her. They want to meet her, play with her, but the light hurts them so they only come at night. The only thing is, the voices are very hungry…

Right from the beginning we see the influence of producer Guillermo del Toro, children and the supernatural. This really does feel like “Coraline” or “The Secret Garden” with little monsters added. The atmosphere is always dark and gloomy, which is quite appropriate for this type of story. Most performances are believable, with young Madison offering memorable scenes all over. Despite the “R” rating, there is very little violence except stabbing with small tools. Now while this movie does draw you in, the scares are few and not that effective. The little creatures are sort of humanoid-rats, with nasty hunchbacks. While they are certainly creepy, we see way too much of them as they lose their ferocity. Even the end is not as scary as it could have been.

“Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” was meant to be the first big hit for restructured distributor Miramax; it almost works but sadly fails to terrify.